Ecuador was under a state of siege on Friday, the streets quiet with the military in charge of public order, after soldiers rescued President Rafael Correa from a hospital where he’d been surrounded by police who roughed him up and tear-gassed him earlier.
Correa and his ministers called Thursday’s revolt — in which insurgents also paralysed the nation with airport shutdowns and highway blockades — an attempt to overthrow him and not just a simple insurrection by angry security force members over a new law that would cut benefits for public servants.
In a post-midnight news conference, Correa added: “They wanted deaths, they wanted blood.” The US also warned those who threaten Ecuador’s democracy that the leftist Correa has Washington’s full support.